EDITORIAL: Are all online posts fair game?
There is presently a heated discussion on how far an employer should intrude on their workers' personal space after a government lawyer was accused of making a tribalist social media post yesterday.
These days, it's common knowledge that what you post and do on social media can hurt your chances of landing a job or impede your professional advancement; however, getting fired for such activities stokes emotive debates.
In Namibia, there are isolated cases of people being fired over social media pronouncements. One of the memorable cases involved an employee of an Oshakati pharmacy who recorded a video on Valentine’s Day in which she said: “Valentine's Day is for Ovakwanyama people; Aandonga, Aakwambi and Ngandjeras can wait for Aids Day”.
Perhaps the irony of her comment - that she, a professional in the medical sector, believed those tribes' members have Aids and must thus celebrate their misery - was what got her into hot water.
When a lawyer, particularly a government one, has a history of discriminating against a certain tribe, it puts their employer in a difficult situation. Even more so when that employer is the ministry of justice, which is tasked with ensuring that all Namibians are treated fairly and equally.
But nipping tribalism in the bud is not only the duty of employers. The country needs equality courts, where unfair discrimination, hate speech and harassment are tried.
These days, it's common knowledge that what you post and do on social media can hurt your chances of landing a job or impede your professional advancement; however, getting fired for such activities stokes emotive debates.
In Namibia, there are isolated cases of people being fired over social media pronouncements. One of the memorable cases involved an employee of an Oshakati pharmacy who recorded a video on Valentine’s Day in which she said: “Valentine's Day is for Ovakwanyama people; Aandonga, Aakwambi and Ngandjeras can wait for Aids Day”.
Perhaps the irony of her comment - that she, a professional in the medical sector, believed those tribes' members have Aids and must thus celebrate their misery - was what got her into hot water.
When a lawyer, particularly a government one, has a history of discriminating against a certain tribe, it puts their employer in a difficult situation. Even more so when that employer is the ministry of justice, which is tasked with ensuring that all Namibians are treated fairly and equally.
But nipping tribalism in the bud is not only the duty of employers. The country needs equality courts, where unfair discrimination, hate speech and harassment are tried.
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Namibian Sun
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